


Two Years

by grantdanvers



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Ant-Man and the Wasp Spoilers, F/M, Hope's POV, Smut, filling in some blanks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 12:57:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15195263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grantdanvers/pseuds/grantdanvers
Summary: Hope was clearly hurt when Scott left to fight alongside Captain America. This is set before, during and after AM&TW, and explores Hope's take on Scott's decision to not tell her he was leaving. Angsty, a little, but nothing that Marvel wouldn't do. ;)





	Two Years

**Author's Note:**

> Also a missing scene in there, but takes place before the after credits scene.
> 
> Spoilers ahead!

Hope finds out that Scott isn’t in San Francisco when she pulls up to his house before their regularly scheduled training session on a Monday morning. She climbs the steps and knocks on his door, waits the two minutes it normally takes for him to open the door that early in the morning, and when she is still waiting after three, decides to call his cell.

One, two, three rings go by and Hope starts to worry. Scott isn’t the biggest fan of their workout routine but he isn’t one to ignore her, either. Hope knocks on the door again as she counts to the sixth ring, and then Scott’s voicemail message begins to play.

“Scott?” Hope calls through the door. “It’s Hope! C’mon, we’re already late.”

She hangs up the phone after she hears the beep. She tries to quell the nervousness in the pit of her stomach. Scott would have told her if he wasn’t planning on joining her at her private gym, or if he’d slept in, he’d answer his phone when she called.

Her phone rings and she answers instantly.

“Are you planning on coming downstairs?” Hope asks.

“Hope, it’s me,” Hank says, the disappointment in her father’s tone already evident.

“Oh, sorry Dad. What’s wrong?”

“My suit, it’s gone.”

Hope frowns, then looks up at Scott’s house wondering if he’s in there goofing around with Carlos SAntana again on Rock Band.

“Have you seen Scott lately?” Hank inquires.

“I’m actually at his place right now. We were supposed to train today but he’s not answering his phone and I’ve been standing here for five minutes waiting for him.”

Hope hears her dad sigh on the other end. “I’m going to make a call, I’ll get back to you if I hear anything.”

He hangs up and Hope is left confused. Scott wouldn't steal her dad’s suit and say nothing to no one before leaving the city. Well, _okay_ , maybe he would steal the suit but he’s not the type to vanish without at least a quick goodbye. Maybe she overestimated her importance in his life in the past few months. They’d become quite close since they’d defeated Cross and the Yellow Jacket, spending most mornings together at her facility and some evenings at Scott’s place just enjoying each other’s company. She was unsure if she wanted to pursue their clear physical attraction to each other, but she’d given in after their third straight week of near inseparable contact. Scott proved to not only be charming and goofy, but passionate. She was surprised at her affection towards him, too.

Hope walks around to her car and steps in, starting up the engine and making her way to her facility to workout solo. Just as she arrives, her phone rings through the car’s speakers.

“Dad?”

“Hope, it’s not good.”

“What’s going on? Where’s Scott?” She tries to tame the panic rising up her throat.

“My contact at S.H.I.E.L.D. let me know that their most important agents are currently off the American grid, and are thought to be in Germany. Half of them are unreachable, the other half are trying to handle the, uh, situation.”

“What does that mean? What does that have to do with Scott?”

“I’ve been told that their highest regarded agent, Captain America, has gone rogue and recruited one or two new members to pursue their cause… one of which has a suit that shrinks.”

Hope shakes her head. She’s partly in disbelief, partly insulted, but mostly just hurt. Scott ran away with Captain America and who else knows to do what, exactly? And if he needed the suit, why wouldn't he have asked her for help? She told him about her own suit that she’d been testing out just last week. He didn’t have to go alone.

“What should we do, dad?”

“He is none of our concern, Hope. He stole my property, he’s been using you to further his own development, and now he’s off without a word to go jeopardize our entire way of life?”

“But, we don’t know if he had a choice, right? Maybe it wasn’t his —”

“Hope,” Hank cuts in. “He’s a grown man, he can make his own decisions. I’m sure he couldn’t resist the attention from someone as heroic as Captain America and didn’t give the rest of it a second thought. Don’t waste your energy, Hope. He’s gone, and if he comes back, he’ll be paying the price for helping out a rogue agent of the state.”

Hope sighs. She knows her father has a point. If Scott even makes it through whatever he has jumped into, he’ll come back to the US as a colluder. Even with a clean record, that’s not good, and he isn’t exactly squeaky clean to begin with.

“Dad, I’ll talk to you later, okay? I’m about to go train.”

“Okay. Bye.”

She hangs up. Hope presses her forehead into the steering wheel, angry and upset at the idea of Scott fighting this battle alone while she sits stupidly in her car in San Francisco. Fury boils in her belly. She’s been left out again, and this time she can’t even make her case as to why she should be there. She wants so badly to know if Scott’s okay, to be able to have his back if something goes south, or to just understand why he didn’t even think to tell her he was leaving.

Hope grabs her workout bag from the passenger seat and makes her way inside. She’ll work extra hard today, if only to prove a point to herself: she doesn't need Scott Lang.

 

— — —

 

Hope hears of Scott’s home arrest when her and her father are about halfway through building the quantum tunnel. All of her energy and focus have been dedicated to this project since the last time she thought she was seeing Scott. She didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself, nor did she intend on asking him why he made the decision to leave her behind. Her father certainly didn't hold back when it came to the subject, either. All she wanted to do was focus on how they could find her mother in the quantum realm.

“I heard from my contact today, the one at S.H.I.E.L.D.” Hank says as he enters their lab. The two meet most mornings after Hope has finished her training to plan out their next steps to assemble the tunnel.

“Okay. Why?”

“Did you know that Scott was arrested when him and his motley crew returned?”

“Uh, no, but I figured he would be in some kind of trouble.” Hope feels the distinct pang of guilt in her chest for not even wondering what had happened to him. She figured she would have found out one way or another, but she made no attempts to find out on her own.

“He’s on house arrest. A two-year sentence, apparently.” Hank hums after the statement, no real regard of remorse in his tone. Hope imagines he’s still hung up about losing his suit.

“Do you think he still has it, the suit?”

“I doubt it. Getting into a scrap with Iron Man and company certainly doesn’t give me confidence that he’d hold up, no matter how big he managed to get.”

Hope smiles at the thought of Scott trying to stomp on a tiny Iron Man and losing his balance, not used to the gravity or physics that comes with being gigantic.

“I would be curious, however, to know if he’s still in good shape. No matter how angry I am with him, I still trust him. I don’t want him to suffer forever.”

Hope nods. She hasn’t allowed herself a moment to think about Scott, and she isn’t sure know if it was due to her anger towards him or if it was self-preservation. She’ll never admit to herself that what he did stung in more ways than one. The loss she felt when she decided to cut him out of her life was on many different levels.

“Two years isn’t the end of the world,” Hank continues. “At least he can still see his daughter, can still have some kind of freedom.”

“Let’s get to work, okay?” Hope pushes the conversation elsewhere. Her dad nods with pursed lips, seemingly understanding of her silent request. She can’t think about Scott withering away in his house, not after they were so close and he left her without a second thought.

 

— — —

 

Two months later, after an internal deliberation that would not settle after many attempts to squash it, Hope finds herself driving into Scott’s neighbourhood late one evening. She isn’t sure what she’s going to do once she arrives at his house, but she needed to see if he was okay. She’d managed to forgiven his absence, but hadn’t forgotten the feeling of when she’d been left behind.

She pulls over a few houses down, across the street from Scott’s two-storey detached home. She kills the engine and stares at the house, looking for any sign of life from the three windows that are lit from inside. Tension builds in her chest, and she taps her fingers on the steering wheel. Hope counts the seconds, telling herself when she reaches sixty she’s going to drive away. She has no business staking out his house, he’s not her problem anymore.

Scott’s silhouette appears in the farthest window, holding a beer bottle and then takes a long swig, appearing to look out into the street. Hope freezes. She doesn’t think Scott would be able to see her from there, but she slides down in the seat, not wanting to take a chance. She doesn’t break her gaze, watching as Scott swallows the beer and shuffles back, then away from the window. She releases a breath and sits up. Hope starts the car and pulls away, down the street and onto the nearest highway back into the city. Her heart thumps in her chest and Hope can’t pin down whether she’s happy to see him again, even so briefly, or if she’s scared that he might have seen her and she’ll be getting a call any moment wondering why she’s sitting outside his house.

She makes it home and doesn’t debate going back ever again.

Until, a year later, Hope and her father finally fire up the quantum tunnel for the briefest of moments, and minutes later she hears Scott’s voice on her dad’s phone for the first time in nearly two years, claiming he’s seen Hope’s mother.

 

— — —

 

Even after Scott’s terrible decision to inform his best friend Luis, and therefore Burch, of the location of her father’s lab and she tells him to leave, Hope feels the same sting of pain she felt the last time she felt she lost him. She tells herself she has more important things to worry about, like making sure her and her mother make it back from the quantum realm, and that Ava or Burch doesn’t show up halfway through to prevent their safe return, but she can’t help the ache that’s caused by watching him leave.

Hope and her father rush around the lab, knowing they need to make quick work of their escape if they’re going to follow the coordinates that her mother relayed through Scott. The experience of communicating with the person she has loved her entire life but hasn’t spoken to in over two decades through the man she last slept with, acting as a living vessel, will never leave her memory. The odd feeling of unadulterated joy at realizing her mother is, in fact, alive mixed with the complicated feelings she has for Scott really threw her for a loop.

Hope and her father exit the lab, shrinking it down to portable size only to find they are too late, and the mistake Scott made has already caught up to them. They’re transported to the nearest precinct, and her mind is racing with all of the possible ways they can get out of custody and back to their stolen lab. Before she manages to follow through on her own escape plan, Hope and her father are guided out of the station by Scott. She wonders how a man could manage to be so dimwitted at times but then come to her rescue over and over again. Hope tries her best to protest her father’s decision to enter the quantum realm, but understands that being left behind this time is for the best, and she will protect her parents against Ava’s and Burch’s team’s attempts to use the quantum tunnel as best she can.

Racing through the city with Luis, hoping that Scott doesn’t get demolished in his malfunctioning suit, Hope prays that her father will return with her mother safely. Too many people’s lives are in jeopardy, and she can barely fathom the thought of losing her father to the same fate as her mother. She’s wrestling with the impending sense of doom when she turns a corner onto the boardwalk and sees Scott towering over a crowd, throwing the miniature lab onto the sidewalk. Hope watches as Scott faints, his massive body sinking into the ocean. Screaming at Luis to get the lab, she sprints and soars into the water, clamouring for any sign of life. She can’t lose another person to her and her father’s pursuits, not when they’re so close to finally having their family reunited.

She manages to fix Scott’s suit and shrink him to a size she can carry. Flying out of the water, she places Scott on the boardwalk and pleads with him to wake up. Her heart hammers in her chest, and the same feeling of guilt overwhelms her. She starts to cry, then Scott open his eyes.

“Hey,” he says, ever-so-casually.

Hope presses her lips to his, relief flooding her senses. She opens her mouth, pulling at Scott’s hair above his neck. Scott responds, pulling Hope closer and pushing back into her. Hope breaks the kiss, knowing her father is running out of time.

“C’mon, we have to hurry.”

Scott nods and gets up, following Hope to stop Ava. As they enter the lab, Hope is met with Ava connecting herself to the quantum tunnel, and in that moment, Hope wonders if her and her father were ever meant to find her mother.

 

— — —

 

After a few days of catching up with her mother, trading stories of everyday life and adventures in the quantum realm, Hope calls Scott. She let herself get caught up with seeing her mother again, let Scott enjoy his newfound freedom, and didn’t want to wait any longer to see where they stood after the events of a few days prior.

He picks up after one ring.

“Hey, Hope?”

“Yeah, hey.”

“How’s it going?”

“It’s been good,” Hope says, smiling. “My mom’s been mostly caught up on the last couple of decades. She’s exploring the internet and dad’s getting her a smartphone soon.”

“So she’s just like everyone else?” Scott let’s the joke hang for a moment before Hope offers a small chuckle.

“How’s freedom treating you?”

“It’s nice,” Scott says, a new calm in his voice. “God, it’s nice. Spending time with Cassie outside the house is never going to get old.”

Hope smiles again. She’s happy that Scott’s able to enjoy his life finally. He deserves it.

“Do you want to get a drink?” Scott asks. “Tonight, even? Do you have any plans?”

“Sure,” Hope responds, relieved he is at least on a similar page as her. He wants to see her, and that’s a good start. “I’ll come get you later?”

“How about I pick you up? I can do that now, you know.”

Hope chuckles again. She agrees and hangs up, and is surprised when she feels butterflies in her stomach.

Later on, Scott knocks on her front door and she wastes no time meeting him there. They leave the car behind and decide to walk to the nearest place that serves alcohol.

“To be honest, I’ll be happy to not drive a car in this city for while,” Hope comments.

“Even when you have that amazing stash of Hot Wheels at your fingertips?”

“Yes, even then. Although, there are a couple cars in there that I will never get tired of driving. I’ll have to take you for a ride when I’m in the mood again.”

“Deal.”

Scott holds the door for Hope as they enter the restaurant. They both take a seat at the bar, and Hope shrugs out of her jacket, giving Scott an opportunity to stare at Hope wearing a sheer blouse that exposes a dip of cleavage. Hope catches his gaze and smirks.

“I’ve worn this before, with you.”

“Yes, well,” Scott fumbles. “You look good in it.”

They both order a drink. Scott opts for a beer while Hope sticks to her regular, a double gin and tonic. Hope turns in her chair and affectionately bumps her knee against Scott’s. Scott puts his arm on the back of her chair. Hope tries not to revel in their shared comfort with each other despite the disdain she had for him not longer than a week ago. A lot can happen in a day.

“So, are you ever going to tell me what happened two years ago?”

Scott takes a swig from his bottle and turns to look at the bar’s countertop, ducking his gaze. Hope knows Scott doesn’t feel good about his decision to leave her and her father in the dark while he ran away to Germany with Captain America. She understands he thinks he didn't have a choice. But she wonders if he regrets it.

“What do you want me to say? I didn’t think I had any other choice to make at the time. I have a hard time believing you’d do anything differently if you were in my shoes.”

Hope scoffs. She can’t deny that she wouldn't have at least considered answering the call, but at the time she wasn’t a player on the board. It’s a bit moot.

“I would have told you if I was asked to leave the country on a rogue mission to fight against S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man,” Hope remarks. “I thought I was important enough for you to tell. Well, at the time I did.”

Hope takes a gulp of her drink, letting the gin burn on its way down. She watches as Scott weighs her response. She’s not sure if she’s hurt him or if he’s trying to piece together whether or not her feelings for him have changed.

“I wanted to tell you, I really did. But I couldn’t tell your father, not then. If I had known you would have come with me, I wouldn’t have hesitated in asking. Really.”

Hope finishes her drink and Scott follows suit. They sit in silence for a minute or two before Hope nudges against Scott’s knee again. Scott turns to her and offers a small smile.

“You’re my partner,” Scott begins, looking into her eyes. “You’re the one who always has my back, and I will always have yours. I wish I could go back and tell Cap that there’s someone else who could help. I wish I could have given you or your father a message, or just anything to not leave you hanging. You mean a lot to me, Hope.”

Hope covers Scott’s hand with hers and squeezes. She knows that Scott at least regrets leaving her without saying anything. She might have done the same if she felt she didn’t have a choice.

“You mean a lot to me, too.”

The pair hold each other’s gaze for a long moment before Scott leans in and places a quick kiss to Hope’s lips. She closes her eyes and he pulls away just as quickly. Hope exhales and looks at him, and Scott smiles and turns back to the bar. They both order another drink and sit in comfortable silence. As Hope downs the remnants of the second drink, she scoots off the barstool and pulls her jacket on. Scott puts a twenty on the counter and follows as Hope leads them outside.

As they walk back to Hope’s place, Scott entwines their hands. Hope guides them up the front steps and turns into Scott once they reach the landing. She tips her head up and Scott meets her halfway. She leans into the kiss, pressing her hands into his chest and then up into his hair. His hands rest just under her arms, then circle around to lift her up and into him. The kiss deepens, and Hope feels a moan rise in Scott’s throat as her hips collide with his.

“Wanna come in?” Hope asks, her lips still a fraction of an inch away from Scott’s.

Scott nods and leans back as Hope opens the door. Scott closes the door behind them as they make their way upstairs.

Hope reaches the top floor and Scott reaches out to turn her into him. He lifts her up and Hope wraps her legs around his waist as he carries her into her bedroom. Hope kisses Scott as she starts to unbutton her blouse, stretching back in his grasp to cast it on the floor. Scott eases them onto the bed, Hope’s back hitting the mattress as Scott pulls his shirt over his head. He leans down to capture her lips again as she reaches in between them to unbuckle his belt. Scott runs his hands up Hope’s sides until he reaches her bra. She shifts up off the bed so Scott can unhook the clasp, and she starts to push his pants down past his hips.

“I missed you,” Scott whispers just past Hope’s ear. Hope pulls him into a deeper kiss, and Scott pulls her bra off completely. He moves her up on the bed as he steps out of his pants and Hope unbuttons hers. Scott yanks her pants off the rest of the way and moves back onto the bed, hovering over her.

“Come here,” Hope says as she pulls him down onto her. Scott buries his head into the crook of her neck, languishing kisses on her skin. Hope sighs and then moans as Scott reaches her ear. He finds her breast and caresses the nipple into a peak as Hope digs her hands into Scott’s back. She pushes her hips into his and feels his arousal against her, and he moans into her neck.

“Fuck,” Scott breathes. He moves back to kiss her, and she gently bites his lip, making him moan again. Hope reaches down and positions Scott against her, silently pleading to take him inside of her.

Scott brushes the back of his hand against her hard nipple, making Hope gasp. He takes her peak into his mouth and moves his hand down, opening her and dipping a finger inside.

“Please,” Hope moans. “Scott, fuck… please.” Scott lowers his head, kissing his way down her torso. He hovers above her again, looking at her slickness before pressing two fingers inside her and covering her clit with his mouth. Hope writhes beneath him, both hands clamping tight into the bedding. As Scott begins to lick, Hope’s hips jut off the bed towards Scott’s mouth and he uses his arms to keep her against the bed. Scott licks in slow circles, teasing her entrance with his fingers.

“Just, ungh,” Hope grunts. Her breathing is laboured at best. Scott looks up and Hope pulls at his shoulders. “I want you… inside.”

Hope curls her legs around Scott’s hips as he moves up her body, positioning him overtop of her. Scott kisses her as he lowers himself into her, one hand reaching down to touch her clit and the other bracing himself up on the mattress. Hope clings to him, matching Scott’s slow rhythm as she starts to moan his name.

“Hope, god,” Scott groans. Scott picks up the pace, thrusting into Hope, trying to hang on and savour the high. He opens his eyes and watches as she comes apart. He works her clit, trying to tip her over the edge. She moans again and then looks up at him. He revels in her at that moment, on the brink of ecstasy, beautiful, looking at him. Hope pulls Scott into a kiss as she approaches her tipping point, and she matches his movements to draw out their orgasms. He shakes in her arms, and as Scott loses control Hope bites onto his ear, breathing onto his pulse point. They both moan, and Hope falls back deeper into the bed. Scott follows, falling onto the bed beside her.

Hope turns and kisses Scott as he comes down from his high. He reaches up to brush the hair away from her face and neck, then kisses her cheek.

“I missed that,” Hope whispers. She looks down at their entangled limbs, remembering the first time they crossed that bridge. She’d been so tentative at the time, not sure if their feelings for each other were real or built up in the excitement of their shared experience saving the world from Cross’ Yellow Jacket. After that first night, she knew their relationship was more than just a simple attraction.

“I didn’t know if we’d ever have this again,” Scott replies. After a moment, he continues. “I’m glad we do.”

Hope smiles and kisses him again, pulling herself onto his chest, then looks down at him. She threads her hands into his hair as she considers his last few words.

“I want this,” Hope states simply. “I want us.”

“Me, too.” Scott smiles up at her, and Hope once again feels the relief flood into her. She needed Scott to come back into her life, and he needed her to forgive him. Hope rests her head on his chest, feels his chest rise and fall as he drifts asleep. She wraps her arms around him, curling into his side, and falls asleep.


End file.
